CHAPTER THIRTY
ATHENA
“We really don’t have to go if you’d rather not. I’m sure it’s the last place you would like to be right now.” I glanced up from my vanity mirror, my mascara wand in hand.
Damon lay sprawled across my bed. He scrubbed a hand over his stubble covered jaw and sighed. “No worries, muffin. I know you want to go be with your friends one last time before summer ends. I’ll be fine.”
After the incident at the movie theatre, I felt bad for dragging Damon along to a graveyard party.
Summer was winding down fast now. It was likely to be the last one of the season.
I wanted to be there with my friends while I still had the chance.
There were two jobs I was torn between. If I chose either one of them, I would be starting work soon, and this would all come to an end.
The unspoken conflict and tension between Damon and Rebel at the movie theatre had been palpable. I didn’t want to force him into an awkward situation by dragging him along to the party. Although there would be plenty of people there and he had no obligation to spend any time with Rebel.
Damon didn’t want to be part of the Graveyard Kings. This had all been forced on him. When he mentioned cutting ties with them completely, I’d been nothing but supportive, even though it worried me.
The Kings were a powerful force in this city. Being part of them was far more beneficial than being on the outside. However, I knew that he had to do what he felt was best for himself just as he’d encouraged me to do.
Turning back to the mirror, I finished doing my makeup before running my brush through my hair. “We don’t have to stay long if you’re not feeling it. I just want to hang out with the girls for a bit and have a drink.”
“It’s all good, Athena. I want you to spend time with your friends.
I’ll manage to keep myself busy. Noah will be around.
I can annoy him and Dom. Lord knows they’ve done it to me enough times.
” Rolling over onto his side, Damon watched as I carefully brushed out my long brown locks. “Goddamn, you are sexy as hell.”
A blush warmed my cheeks. The last few weeks with Damon had been nothing short of amazing. We’d found our groove together. Falling into a comfortable state. Unable to be apart for long. We had a hard time keeping our hands off one another.
The only thing ruining the bliss was this horrible job he still had to do. A job we were reminded about in an ugly way last night at the movies. I still didn’t know how Damon had managed to stay so calm and collected while surrounded by gang members. I was ready to pee myself.
We both knew that he had to take care of it right away. On one hand, I was looking forward to having the job be done. To be free of it so we could really step into our future together. At the same time, I was terrified something would go wrong. What if he got caught?
“You’re pretty damn sexy yourself.” I flashed him a flirtatious smile. “I’m pretty sure we have time for a quickie.”
“A quickie?” Damon shook his head. “That’s not good enough for my girl. Let’s take our time. We’ll get there when we get there.”
After a delicious romp that left my freshly brushed hair disheveled, we finally made our way to the party. The sun had already set. Small lanterns littered about the graveyard provided a soft orange glow. Already it was packed with people.
We strolled across the graveyard hand-in-hand. My chest expanded with pride. I was ready to burst with happiness. Never before had I gone public with any guy. This felt special. I wanted everyone to know that I belonged to Damon.
Pausing on the edge of the crowd, Damon leaned in to kiss me. “I guess this is where I leave you for a while. Try not to miss me too much.”
My friends were already there, dragging me away from him before I could respond. “Girl time,” Ripley gushed.
“Let’s get a drink in your hand,” Codie added. “We just ditched the guys. Tonight is for the girls. We don’t do this enough anymore.”
She was right about that. Since everyone had started to pair off with their lovers, our quality time together had naturally decreased. As much as I loved being with Damon, I didn’t want to lose that time with my best friends.
“We need to make a point of doing this on a regular basis,” I said, letting them drag me over to a cooler filled with drinks. “I miss you guys.”
Luna nodded, her pink and purple curls bouncing. “Maybe we can set a date. Same time every week. We’ll do lunch or something.”
There was an exuberant rise of voices as everyone agreed. Once I had a hard lemonade in hand, we found a space in the grass on the edge of the party, sitting in a circle. It didn’t take long for a joint to start making its way around.
Even though I tried to resist, my gaze wandered across the graveyard to where Damon stood with Noah and Dom. Rebel and the other Kings were nearby, talking amongst themselves.
“How pissed at Damon is Rebel?” I asked Storm, needing to know.
She took a long toke off the joint, her face scrunching into a grimace. “Honestly? He’s pretty pissed. He ranted about it for a while after we got home. I wish those two were able to get along. I guess there’s just too much history there.”
I had expected Rebel to be furious, and I couldn’t blame him for feeling that way. Damon and his friends had caused a lot of trouble for the Kings in the past. Even though two of those friends were now dead and we’d all tried to move on, that was often easier said than done.
“How about you?” I turned to Codie, taking a sip of my drink. The sweet yet sour liquid was icy cold. Perfect for a hot summer night. “Are you sure you’re okay with me and Damon? I know he was pretty shitty to you.”
A while back Noah and Colt had grabbed Codie in anger after their friend River was killed. Damon hadn’t been part of that yet he still showed up on the scene. He tried to hurt Codie after she got away.
Codie shrugged, her lips curving into a smirk. “I hit him with a car that night soon after the Kings broke his arm. I’m not holding any grudges.”
“Oh yeah.” I laughed softly. “I forgot that you hit him with a car. Wow, our lives sure aren’t boring. Not yet anyway.”
Luna sighed, accepting the joint when it came her way. Leaning back on one arm, she took a puff, blowing the smoke above our heads. “I could go for some boring myself. Life with a Graveyard King is not for the weak.”
“Ain’t that the fucking truth.” Storm almost laughed out some of her drink.
The conversation took a turn as we laughed about some of the craziest times we’d all had with these men. Even though I was newer to my relationship than most of them, I still had my share of fucked up experiences.
And yet… I wouldn’t trade it for anything.
As the night went on, I realized I hadn’t seen Damon in a while. Usually, when I glanced over, he was there looking back at me. I searched the party for any sign of him. Nothing. Maybe he slipped away into the forest to take a piss or something.
When another twenty minutes passed and I still didn’t see him, I started to worry. I pushed myself to my feet. “I’ll be back, ladies. I need to talk to Noah for a minute.”
I weaved my way through the throng of people to where Noah and Dom were talking with Casper and Stray. A nervous feeling in my gut began to spread through the rest of my body, making the lemonade not sit so well.
Tapping Noah on the shoulder, I said, “I haven’t seen Damon for a while. Do you know where he went?”
Noah also surveyed the party before shrugging. “No. He never said anything to me.”
I gnawed anxiously on my lip. “Maybe he went to do that job. Do you think he’ll be safe alone? I’m worried.”
“I’m sure he’ll be fine.” Noah didn’t sound as if he were convinced.
“Maybe we should try to find him,” I suggested, unwilling to let this go. “I have a bad feeling about this.”
Noah seemed uncertain. He glanced at Dom who said, “Let’s go find him. You can still track each other, right?”
That was news to me. Immediately my hopes soared. Especially when Noah nodded. “Yeah, we can track each other with our phones.” To me he added, “Are you sure you want to come? It might be dangerous.”
Knowing that I was about to make a choice that may change my life forever, I said, “I have to.”